My job

Earlier this week my husband and I met a new couple. The guy asked me what I did for a living. When I told him I was a stay-at-home mom he said "Oh, okay." and then turned to my husband to talk. He wasn't rude, but I felt like he didn't know what to say after that. I didn't think anything about it until later.

 

My job is usually gender specific. The ratio of men vs. women who stay at home is very unbalanced in the women's favor. So when he received my response he then didn't know what to say. Most people who have never stayed home with their children have no clue what goes on in  the day to day life. In all honesty even if they do know there just isn't much to say about it.

Everyone can ask my husband what he does. When they hear engineer they can then ask him what type, where he works, what he makes/designs/tests and then they usually get his opinion about the products he works with. 

My job has been the same forever. Every mom cleans, cooks, does laundry, referees fights and plays with the kids. We all do it a bit differently, but we still end up mothering and cleaning  in some form when the day is done.

So my question or thought, if you will, is how do I fix this? I'm a mom and I love my job. But I'm also a wife, a book reviewer, a runner and many, many other things.

Let's just take the one that I'm paid to do. -

Do I tell them that I'm a professional book reviewer?

I looked up the word professional to see if I qualified.

A professional is someone who does something for money and is experienced in their field.

So I guess this means I'm a professional book reviewer. I do get paid (or compensated) for most of the books I review.  And I'm really, really good at reading. =)

It just sounds so crazy to tell someone about my "side" job that I fit in around the kids when those sweet little kids are such a huge part my daily life.

It's just that to most people - my life is really, really boring and NOT a topic for conversation.

Still not sure what I should say, but I certainly feel better for having gotten that off my chest. =)